Blind sailors race across open water learning not to fear what they cannot see, on boats or on land. Life turns unpredictable as the wind when one of them gains something far more valuable than a trophy and must learn to live and to sail with a new sensibility.

2013 Sense The Wind Teaser - 1:12 min

2013 Sense The Wind Pitch Trailer - 4 min

We also produced our 4 minute Trailer to be fully accessible for those visually impaired or blind through Audio Description. Click here to play

Sense The Wind is a documentary journey into the little known world of competitive blind sailing, one that follows four visually impaired sailors on the water as they passionately train and compete, while exploring the unique international community that has grown among these brave athletes as over years they cross the starting lines at regional regattas, Nationals and Worlds. Off the water, further empowered, they face family and social challenges, striving to succeed in work and advocacy, yet eager to return to the water for the thrill of racing.

PROJECT UPDATES

May 8, 2015

With the support of the US Sailing Association, we have launched a new crowd funding campaign targeted to community sailing organizations and clubs. US Sailing has offered some great gear to entice donors, as well as the film offered for community sneak peek screenings. We are rallying to complete an accessible version of the film for outreach. Hop on board!

April 23, 2015

The Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, MA stepped up again and generously contributed toward the completion costs of Sense The Wind. We are thankful for their continued support and belief that the film will be of great value to the blind community, to rehab recreation and sailing programs. Our documentary will spread awareness and inspire many to reach greater heights!

March 25, 2015

We were fortunate to have the talents of Bill Ruyle on percussion and Jeff Ciampa playing acoustic guitar to the incredible score our composer, Richard Martinez wrote for the film. Their musical nuances added much to the power of the story and to the visceral excitement of the race scenes.

With many weeks of late hours cleaning up location audio and creating needed ambient sounds followed by a 7 hour supervised sound mix session, Paul Michael delivered his audio magic to the post house to pair with the video edit. Whether hearing splashes on the water or the flapping of birds flying past, you will feel you are there.

February 17, 2015

We reached a project milestone Friday, February 13th, with the completion of film editing. December's rough cut has evolved into a moving hour length film that truly captures the heart and spirit of our characters while introducing the little known sport of blind sailing. Music composition is well underway and the original score will be completed early March. The audio mix and sound design is in the hands of Paul Michael, a sound wizard who not only cleans up less than ideal recoded audio, but also builds the ambient sound and audio effects around the images and music.

Post Production finishing and mastering is scheduled for late March, after which Sense The Wind will be ready to launch and move into the distribution and outreach phase. In the meantime, we continue to fundraise to fund these completion costs to be able to release as tentatively scheduled.

December 27, 2014

In October our new NY based editor, Cheree Dillon, came onboard to complete the film with us. Over these past months, Cheree immersed herself in the many hours of footage to artfully weave these stories into a compelling hour documentary. We are excited to have received a very good rough cut for Christmas!

Our motion graphics wizard, Gerry Katzban, has created unique POV visual effects and is developing animated maps for the regatta locations. In January we will work closely with Cheree to fine tune the film cut to "picture lock", after which music and sound design are added. Our highly skilled composer, Richard Martinez, will begin working on an original music score.

Our creative team is working hard to bring the film to completion as we rally the funds needed for post production finishing. January will be a busy month!

September 22, 2014

Our film event was a great success and almost $5,000 was raised to fund final editing. Over 90 people attended, film lovers and sailors enjoyed food & drink, the lively auction and, theatre screening of the exciting trailer and a sneak peek scene excerpt. The response we heard was fabulous, the interest in the film and support to get it finished is growing.

The RI Jamestown Press published a nice article about our film last week, news that informs and reinforces the local and wide reaching buzz building around Sense The Wind.

- Intensive editing resumes in a few weeks and funds are still being sought to take us over the finish with our great team.

- Motion graphic and point of view character FX are in development and magic is being created for the film.

- As editing progresses further into November, our talented sound designer and composer will begin adding their layers of sound.

We are on a roll. Stay with us on this ride and help us along! We have such a passionate and talented crew.

August 10, 2014

A Race Dinner Film Event will take place at the Jamestown Arts Center on Saturday, September 6th at 7pm. It will feature work-in-progress sneak preview of clips from Sense the Wind and a conversation with the filmmakers and film participants.

This special fundraising event occurs during the 2014 Sail Newport Blind National Sailing Championship. Competitors from around the country, along with former America's Cup and Olympic sailors, will join volunteers, families and friends for camaraderie, food & drink, music and auction. All are welcome!

Tickets are $25 Advance, $35 Door, which includes a Burger Bar and Homemade Dessert. Cash Bar. Advance Tickets may be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/documentary-film-event-tickets-12505202397

Proceeds will go towards film post-production expenses. If unable to attend and wish to support the film’s completion simply go to the Donate page.